One Hundred
Ninth Congress
of
the
United
States of America
AT THE
SECOND SESSION
Begun and held at the City of Washington on
Tuesday,
the third day of January, two thousand and
six
An Act
To provide the Department of Justice the necessary
authority to apprehend, prosecute, and convict individuals committing animal
enterprise terror.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of
Representatives of the United States of America in Congress
assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT
TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the `Animal Enterprise
Terrorism Act'.
SEC. 2.
INCLUSION OF ECONOMIC DAMAGE TO ANIMAL ENTERPRISES AND THREATS OF DEATH AND
SERIOUS BODILY INJURY TO ASSOCIATED PERSONS.
(a) In General- Section 43 of title 18, United
States Code, is amended to read as follows:
Sec.
43. Force, violence, and threats involving animal enterprises
(a) Offense- Whoever travels in
interstate or foreign commerce, or uses or causes to be used the mail or any
facility of interstate or foreign commerce--
(1) for the purpose of damaging or
interfering with the operations of an animal enterprise; and
(2) in connection with such
purpose--
(A) intentionally damages or causes the
loss of any real or personal property (including animals or records) used by an
animal enterprise, or any real or personal property of a person or entity having
a connection to, relationship with, or transactions with an animal
enterprise;
(B) intentionally places a person in
reasonable fear of the death of, or serious bodily injury to that person, a
member of the immediate family (as defined in section 115) of that person, or a
spouse or intimate partner of that person by a course of conduct involving
threats, acts of vandalism, property damage, criminal trespass, harassment, or
intimidation; or
(C) conspires or attempts to do
so;
shall be punished as provided for in subsection
(b).
(b) Penalties- The punishment for a
violation of section (a) or an attempt or conspiracy to violate subsection (a)
shall be--
(1) a fine under this title or
imprisonment not more than 1 year, or both, if the offense does not instill in
another the reasonable fear of serious bodily injury or death and--
(A) the offense results in no economic
damage or bodily injury; or
(B) the offense results in economic
damage that does not exceed $10,000;
(2) a fine under this title or
imprisonment for not more than 5 years, or both, if no bodily injury occurs
and--
(A) the offense results in economic
damage exceeding $10,000 but not exceeding $100,000; or
(B) the offense instills in another the
reasonable fear of serious bodily injury or death;
(3) a fine under this title or
imprisonment for not more than 10 years, or both, if--
(A) the offense results in economic
damage exceeding $100,000; or
(B) the offense results in substantial
bodily injury to another individual;
(4) a fine under this title or
imprisonment for not more than 20 years, or both, if--
(A) the offense results in serious
bodily injury to another individual; or
(B) the offense results in economic
damage exceeding $1,000,000; and
(5) imprisonment for life or for any
terms of years, a fine under this title, or both, if the offense results in
death of another individual.
(c) Restitution- An order of restitution
under section 3663 or 3663A of this title with respect to a violation of this
section may also include restitution--
(1) for the reasonable cost of repeating
any experimentation that was interrupted or invalidated as a result of the
offense;
(2) for the loss of food production or
farm income reasonably attributable to the offense; and
(3) for any other economic damage,
including any losses or costs caused by economic disruption, resulting from the
offense.
(d) Definitions- As used in this
section--
(1) the term `animal enterprise'
means--
(A) a commercial or academic enterprise
that uses or sells animals or animal products for profit, food or fiber
production, agriculture, education, research, or testing;
(B) a zoo, aquarium, animal shelter, pet
store, breeder, furrier, circus, or rodeo, or other lawful competitive animal
event; or
(C) any fair or similar event intended
to advance agricultural arts and sciences;
(2) the term `course of conduct' means a
pattern of conduct composed of 2 or more acts, evidencing a continuity of
purpose;
(3) the term `economic damage'--
(A) means the replacement costs of lost
or damaged property or records, the costs of repeating an interrupted or
invalidated experiment, the loss of profits, or increased costs, including
losses and increased costs resulting from threats, acts or vandalism, property
damage, trespass, harassment, or intimidation taken against a person or entity
on account of that person's or entity's connection to, relationship with, or
transactions with the animal enterprise; but
(B) does not include any lawful economic
disruption (including a lawful boycott) that results from lawful public,
governmental, or business reaction to the disclosure of information about an
animal enterprise;
(4) the term `serious bodily injury'
means--
(A) injury posing a substantial risk of
death;
(B) extreme physical pain;
(C) protracted and obvious
disfigurement; or
(D) protracted loss or impairment of the
function of a bodily member, organ, or mental faculty; and
(5) the term `substantial bodily injury'
means--
(A) deep cuts and serious burns or
abrasions;
(B) short-term or nonobvious
disfigurement;
(C) fractured or dislocated bones, or
torn members of the body;
(D) significant physical pain;
(E) illness;
(F) short-term loss or impairment of the
function of a bodily member, organ, or mental faculty; or
(G) any other significant injury to the
body.
(e) Rules of Construction- Nothing in
this section shall be construed--
(1) to prohibit any expressive conduct
(including peaceful picketing or other peaceful demonstration) protected from
legal prohibition by the First Amendment to the Constitution;
(2) to create new remedies for
interference with activities protected by the free speech or free exercise
clauses of the First Amendment to the Constitution, regardless of the point of
view expressed, or to limit any existing legal remedies for such interference;
or
(3) to provide exclusive criminal
penalties or civil remedies with respect to the conduct prohibited by this
action, or to preempt State or local laws that may provide such penalties or
remedies.'.
(b) Clerical Amendment- The item relating to section
43 in the table of sections at the beginning of chapter 3 of title 18, United
States Code, is amended to read as follows:
43. Force, violence, and threats
involving animal enterprises.'.
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Vice President of the United States and
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